Lynne's Rude Awakening
by Lynne Porcelain
Summary: A mysterious cat wakes up in Elmore with no memory of who she is. She gets taken in by the Wattersons and embarks on an admittedly laidback quest to find out where she came from. Are the kids more of a hinderance than a help? Not that it matters. She's got no choice but to go along with every crazy scheme they come up with. This is the story of Lynne Awesome Porcelain.
1. Chapter 1 - White Room

**A/N: Hi, Lynne here! I hope you enjoy this new story of mine. It's been in the works for a while.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to the Amazing World of Gumball, except Lynne.**

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Her head was killing her. That's all she could focus on. A terrible headache. She didn't know where she was. She heard sounds around her. They could have been muffled, they could have been clear as day, but she couldn't tell because her mind was swimming. It was dark, and then she realised that this was because her eyes were closed. That was odd… The last thing she remembered… No, she couldn't remember anything. Something told her that she did not fall asleep, and yet, she was waking up.

Did something- or someone- knock her unconscious?

Her eyelids felt heavy… So heavy. She grimaced, ears twitching as they picked up the sounds of the atmosphere getting clearer and clearer. The faint sound of a radio.

"… Lynne's new hit single, coming up next…"

Beeping. The echoing of shoes hitting linoleum flooring with a clack. Some voices, but she couldn't make out what was being said. Maybe they were far off in the distance, or behind a door. Forcing her eyes open took all the strength she could muster, and when she got her first glimpse of her surroundings, it confirmed her suspicions. A white, sanitised room. Medical equipment lining the walls, and a bedside table. That must mean… Yes. She looked down and saw that she was in bed. That would explain why she felt so comfortable. A hospital bed, to be precise. She was in a hospital? Just as that thought came, another, more pressing one hit her.

A few moments ago, she felt an alien sensation at the top of her head. Things sounded clearer. Very crisp, like she could pick up the flapping of a butterfly's wings from the other side of the room, if there was one in there. Which there wasn't. The doctors must have been doing a pretty good job with the sterilisation. She tried to get the sensation to happen again. Was that her ears doing that? Huh, she must be some kind of animal. Indeed, she wriggled her hands out from underneath the covers and brought them in front of her, examining them. They were paws, covered in off-beige fur, and upon further inspection, she discovered that she had claws she could extend and retract. Sensing the inevitable, she moved muscles she didn't know she had and felt something long and fluffy move around beneath her.

She must be a cat.

That felt comforting for some reason, like some lifelong dream had been fulfilled. However, she had no idea what. The cat shrugged and decided to focus on more pressing matters. What happened to her? Why was she in a hospital? And why couldn't she remember anything?

It seemed like soon, she'd find the answer to at least one of those questions. The voices from behind the wooden door at the other end of the room weren't quite so muffled anymore. She saw silhouettes through the tinted window. The cat had a feeling they were looking at her. A couple more hushed exchanges, and the metal door handle rattled.

"… And we have no idea of her mental state. So, speak slowly, and be patient with the patient." A nasally voice flooded into the room as a walking bandage-nurse strolled in, clutching a clipboard.

The girl in bed remained silent, blinking slowly. She was still laying down and felt far too tired to sit up. In any case, the presence of this individual didn't surprise her. For all the cat knew, bandage-people were commonplace here, and it would be rude of her to inquire about it. What grounds did she have to ask that, anyway? She was a talking cat.

Again, that euphoric sensation. Weird.

Upon catching sight of the figure behind the nurse, though, she felt relieved. Another cat. The bedbound feline felt some primal connection with the older one in the doorway. Must have been a species thing. This other cat had blue fur, and wore a white work shirt and a grey skirt below that. She looked concerned. About what? About her? Did she know this person?

The bandage-person double-checked the beeping monitors beside the cat in bed. "Good evening. How are you feeling? Rate the pain from one to ten."

"Uh…" The patient finally uttered something, and she felt as though she didn't quite recognise her own voice for some reason. "My head hurts a bit, and I'm kind of dizzy too but there's no burning pain or anything. So, uh, two."

The nurse mouthed what she said back at her as she scribbled something onto her clipboard. "You're lucky you didn't get severe head trauma from the fall."

The beige-furred cat raised an eyebrow. "Wait… Fall? Is _that _what happened to me?"

"It's what we gathered based on your initial injuries. Broken ribs, shattered left knee, cut on your forehead."

"Huh…"

The bandage adjusted her glasses and gasped. "Do you not recall the incident?"

She shook her head. "No, I… I can't remember. I can't remember anything."

"Nothing at all?"

"Well, I know how to do this." The cat pointed to the top of her head as her ears wiggled excitedly.

The female blue feline to the doctor's right's eyes widened a little, but she didn't say anything.

The nurse peered into the shorter cat's eyes. "Am I right in saying that moving your ears is literally the only thing you remember?"

"I don't know. I figured out how to do that like, two minutes before you came in. Everything before that? Mind's blank."

The bandage paused and wrote something else down. "It seems you didn't get off scot-free after all. You've got amnesia."

"Oh, okay." The patient seemed almost unfazed by this.

"It's a very serious condition, and you will need to be vigilant. If you remember anything, anything at all, please make a note of it and contact us." The nurse handed her a business card.

The cat looked it over for a few moments before putting it on her bedside table. "Can I ask a few questions?"

"Go ahead."

The first thing the patient did after that was point at the smartly dressed feline at the foot of the bed. "Are you my Mom?"

The latter cat blinked in surprise. "No. My name is Nicole Watterson, and one of my children found you lying on the front lawn. They told me you fell from the sky. I didn't believe them, but I saw how serious your injuries were and I called the emergency services. This was last Tuesday. You've been unconscious for two days."

The beige-furred cat whistled. That was a heavy answer, all right… She didn't know how to begin to unpack it all, but she had to start somewhere.

"First things first. You said I fell from the sky?" She sat up in bed, finding it much easier than she thought she would. "What… What does that even mean?"

The doctor cut in. "We don't know what it means. The only people who reported a meteor sighting were the Wattersons, as part of their emergency phone call."

"And they found me."

"Yes." They confirmed.

The girl tilted her head. "Also… You said I broke a bunch of bones?"

"That is correct."

"But I've only been out two days, and I feel fine!" She protested, waving her uninjured arms around and slapping her ribcage.

"Well, that's just how fast wounds heal when you're an Elmorean. That's where you are. Elmore. At least that confirms you're from around here. Maybe that knowledge might kickstart some other memories to come back." The bandage explained casually.

"No… I can't think of anything. But wait, if I'm from around here, then I must be on your hospital's system, right?"

"I'm afraid I have bad news. The receptionist went through all the two-dimensional cats in our records, and no-one matching your physical description came up. In fact, we had to make a new entry for you to log this incident." The nurse told her with a serious expression.

That finally seemed to get to the amnesiac in a way that nothing else the doctor said so far had done. She hugged her knees in the small hospital bed and frowned. Well, there it was. She had no family. Or, at least, they had signed her up for a hospital in a different area. But the doctor literally just said that she came from here… Wherever 'here' was. She stayed silent pondering this for so long that it took one of the others speaking again to break her out of her trance.

This time, Nicole was the one to say something.

The older cat's expression turned to one of sympathy. "I can go home and talk to my family about letting you stay for a while. Just until you find out more about yourself. We can leave you to get your new records all sorted here, and then when you're discharged, we'll come and pick you up."

"You'd really do that for me?"

Nicole chuckled. "I don't think Darwin would ever forgive me if I didn't offer."

The beige-furred feline scratched her head. "Who's Darwin?"

"My middle child. He's always trying to help people any way he can. He was the one who wanted to call an ambulance. That's just what he's like. He's never met you before, and he's worried about you. Meanwhile, all my eldest could think about was how 'famous' it would make him if you really were an extra-terrestrial." She explained through gritted teeth.

The patient in bed smirked. "Well, that's really kind of you. Thank you… Thanks so much."

"It's the least we could do." Nicole reaffirmed politely, before turning to the bandage-nurse and asking, "How much longer is she going to have to stay here?"

"We'll have to wait until after her headache has gone, and then do a few more quick tests, but after that, she should be ready to go home." The doctor stopped, as if she was forgetting something. "By the way, you do go by 'she', correct?"

"Yup. If I wasn't comfortable with that, I would have corrected you."

The nurse hummed in agreement. "Alright. We should probably keep you here for at least another twenty-four hours. Pain update. How's your head feeling now?"

"Uh… One-point-five?" The bed-bound feline guessed, rubbing one of her sensitive ears absent-mindedly. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did when I first woke up."

"Ah. Must be your body adjusting to being active again. You'll definitely be fine tomorrow. Now, can you think of a name?"

"A name?"

"What do you want to be called?" The doctor clarified. "Unless you can remember your name."

The beige-furred cat shook her head slowly. She still couldn't. What should she go by? It's not like she really had a lot to go on. Maybe she should go for a name based on her physical appearance. That would be hard, though, given she still hadn't seen herself in a mirror since she woke up. Kitty? Tabby? No. She didn't want to take any 'pet' names. In that case… She racked her brain, and for some reason, her mind fixated on the radio from earlier. The first sound she had heard when she woke up. The answer was clear as day to her now. She might not know her real name, but this one definitely suited her, as far as she could tell.

She gave a small smile towards Nicole. "Lynne. You can call me Lynne."

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**A/N: What did you think? Leave a review if you want to. I've already written the first 11 chapters so I'll be releasing them periodically over the coming weeks. Until next time... - Lynne**


	2. Chapter 2 - Green Station Wagon

**A/N: Hi, Lynne here! Here's the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Amazing World of Gumball, except Lynne.**

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_ELMORE HOSPITAL PICK-UP POINT, 22 HOURS LATER_

Lynne was huddled up on a bench just outside of the hospital. While she was preparing to leave, she had been fully registered onto the system. The cat had decided to use Porcelain as a last name after seeing a trolley full of hospital plates trundle past her in the waiting room. She knew it wouldn't be right to use 'Watterson', since she barely knew one of the members of that family, and she might end up moving out in a couple of weeks and losing contact with them. Thus, she had been given a temporary ID card under 'Lynne Porcelain' with instructions on how to apply for a permanent one. She hoped Nicole could help her with that one.

Lynne had also walked out with some clothes from the lost and found- a blue shirt with 'Go Go Elmore Mustangs' written on it, and greenish shorts. The syringe man at the counter told her that it was merchandise from the local football team which a disgruntled fan had abandoned there after a heavy loss. The beige-furred feline wasn't too fussed about her clothes at all, as anything was better than the hospital gown she had been wearing all day.

Now it was night-time, and she wasn't finding the cold all too bad. She'd heard that this region didn't get too cold at night, even in winter, and it was summer right now anyway. Lynne was busying herself by staring at her temporary ID card while she patiently waited for Nicole to come and pick her up. The mugshot on the flimsy laminated bit of paper gave her her first look at herself. A skinny cat with big black irises, beige fur in a solid block covering every exposed part of her body, and shoulder-length blonde hair. While waiting for one of her tests, she had discovered that she could change the length and colour of her hair at will, and this is what she had settled on for now. As far as she knew, that kind of thing was normal here.

The cat had been told to look out for a green station wagon, but Lynne hadn't seen any cars like that yet. In fact, she hadn't seen that many cars at all. It was about ten o'clock at night, and all the people who had come in for appointments during the day had long since gone home. The bench she was sitting on was on the side of a small road where people dropped off and picked up patients outside of the hospital. The parking lot on the other side of the road was empty, though she could hear the faint sound of the cars driving on the adjoining highway a few hundred feet from where she was sitting. There were so few buildings near the hospital that she had a clear view of the closest exit to her, and so when she inevitable got bored of staring at the tiny portrait of herself in her paws, she took to watching that exit intently for any sign of Nicole's car.

Lynne's mind soon drifted to the potential occupants of the vehicle. What was Nicole's family like? She had only heard about two children. One was supposedly self-centred while the other was benevolent. Did Nicole have any more children? Did she have a husband? A wife? A partner? Would there be so many family members that there wouldn't be anywhere for her to stay? The cat didn't want to be an inconvenience for this family. She'd sleep on the sofa if she had to, and maybe she could work on finding a job. They'd appreciate the extra bit of money coming in, and then she could use that job as a foothold to move out of their house.

Speaking of the house, what did it look like? Were the Wattersons well-off? Lynne guessed as much, given Nicole's smart business attire. Maybe she wouldn't be such a financial burden. She thought back to what the bandage-nurse had told her just before discharging her. She had looked the female cat dead in the eyes and said, "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. That family… Well, all I can say is good luck."

Lynne had been rushed out of the door by the shuddering doctor before she had the chance to ask what she meant by that. Nicole seemed nice enough, and didn't one of her kids say they were worried about her? She brushed the nurse's odd behaviour off. Whatever this family was like, they couldn't be that bad, surely. They probably just woke up on the wrong side of bed that morning. A family willing to take in a complete stranger on account of not wanting to upset Darwin, whoever he was, spoke volumes to her. In situations like this, parents usually put finances- and themselves- first. They must really all care for each other, then. Lynne hoped that she could give them some of that love back for helping her out.

And then, she saw it. A green station wagon rumbling along down the highway's exit lane. This must be her ride. She could feel it. A wave of excitement gripped her and wouldn't let go. Lynne involuntarily smirked, slipped her ID card in one of the pockets of her shorts, and stood up. As the car drew closer, Lynne could make out some blue figure driving it. It was definitely Nicole. This was it. The noise of the engine got louder and louder until the old vehicle slowed down to a stop in the temporary parking bay. The lights turned on, and she could hear the sound of the child lock being released. The cat exhaled shakily and walked towards the passenger side door. Pausing for a few moments to gather her thoughts first, she grabbed the handle and prised the car door open.

"Hi!" Nicole greeted her enthusiastically from behind the steering wheel. "Are you all ready to go?"

Lynne nodded back. "Yeah. Everything's been sorted out." She brandished her ID card with a smile.

"Great! Well, are you going to get in? I don't bite. Unless you threaten my family of course." The blue-furred feline laughed manically for all of five seconds, leaving the pair in an awkward silence once Lynne had climbed in and buckled up.

"I'm never going to do that. I promise." Lynne assured her, taking a look around the interior of the car.

Her seat in particular was surrounded by Joyful Burger wrappers and empty soda cups. The whole car smelled of ketchup.

Nicole instantly jumped on the defense. "Oh, don't mind the mess. My husband likes to eat a lot. You should have seen the state of the car before I cleaned it… Sauce all over your door handle."

Lynne chuckled lightly. "That explains the smell, huh?"

The older cat slumped back in her seat. "Yes. Keeping up with Richard's eating habits is a fruitless effort. I learned a long time ago that it was much easier to just let him do his own thing."

"Fair enough. So what's the rest of your family like? The doctor, uh, said some things while you were gone." Lynne admitted without thinking.

"Oh, she did, did she?" Nicole's sweet tone betrayed her harrowing expression. An unparalleled scowl, and fire in her eyes, literally. The younger cat froze, not knowing how to respond.

"Well, I'm sure she was very nice about us." The smartly-dressed feline answered her own rhetorical question, and the fury was gone in an instant. Just as well, because the fur on Lynne's left arm had caught fire. She quickly patted it out with her other hand and the smell of burned fur lingered in the air.

Nicole started up the car and they began the journey back to her house, and Lynne's new place of residence, however temporary that may end up being. Lynne didn't really feel like starting another conversation. She was content with staring out of the window, watching the other cars they passed on the highway. The guest a mental note of just how vibrant and varied in size and shape the inhabitants of this town were. She saw two-dimensional people, three-dimensional people, sentient inanimate objects, and even food behind the wheel. None of this seemed out of place for her. She suspected it didn't for Nicole, either, because she hadn't taken her eyes off of the road.

Then again, as Lynne soon noticed, maybe she was ignoring the other drivers to keep her cool. Every car they passed seemed to give them a wide berth with some changing lanes and others dramatically slowing down or speeding up until they disappeared over the moonlit horizon. As much as she was aware that it may be a bad idea, Lynne couldn't stop herself from asking about this.

"Nicole?"

"Yes, Lynne?" There was that sing-song tone again.

"What's up with everyone? Is everyone here a bad night driver or something?"

Nicole took a few moments to respond. "I wish that that was the case." Her voice was devoid of all emotion now.

"Then… Why are they acting like that?"

"Some people don't like us." She spat bitterly, claws digging into the steering wheel.

"'Us' being… Your family?" Lynne asked cautiously. She knew she was treading on a minefield here.

"My children can be a bit of a handful sometimes, and that is apparently enough for the whole town to label you as public enemy number one." The older cat explained through tired eyes. "They're very sweet, and I love them all dearly, but…"

"But?"

"They all have their own ways of making things difficult for me and their father. They're kids, I know they'll grow out of it eventually, but right now, things can get pretty hectic. First, there's Gumball. He's almost thirteen and makes it his life goal to cause as much mayhem as possible. When I'm at work, I'm constantly worried I'm going to get a distress call from either him or his victims. School, home, the mall, wherever he goes, he causes trouble. He's not mean, of course. He's just… Very creative, and he likes to come up with these crazy schemes all the time."

Lynne nodded for her to continue, deliberately looking away from the DeLorean next to them that sprouted turbo boosters in its rush to avoid the Watterson's car.

"Darwin's adopted, but we love him all the same. He used to be Gumball's pet fish, but… Then he grew legs and started talking." Nicole told the younger cat all this as if it was a totally normal thing to happen. "Like I said yesterday, he always puts other people first and loves to help them. Gumball exploits this and drags him along on his adventures. Still, they're best friends. Seeing them look out for each other almost makes up for all the ridiculous things they do, even if the damages come out of my paycheck."

"Ouch…" Lynne commented, wincing. "I was gonna ask you about that, actually. I'm not gonna… Make things worse for you financially, am I?"

"No, not at all!" Nicole shook her head. "If we were like any other family, then yes, another mouth to feed in this economy would be a complete disaster. But… Richard spends so much on food, and the kids cause that much destruction, that one more person at the dinner table is pretty much nothing in comparison. You're fine!"

The beige-furred feline felt a weight lift from her shoulders. "Okay… But I still want to get a job."

"That's a good idea. In the meantime, you can babysit the children. The last time we tried to hire a babysitter…" The businesswoman cringed. "Richard can keep the kids under control- he's unemployed, so he has a lot of experience- but staying in the house all day really isn't good for him. Now I can make him be more active, and I won't have to leave the kids home alone again."

"Oh, uh…" Lynne didn't expect this much responsibility to be thrust upon her so fast. "Are you really sure about that? I've never even met them before."

"Oh, you'll be fine!" Nicole waved that concern away.

Lynne suspected that the older cat was hiding something, but given what she had seen of her temper so far, she knew better than to ask about that. She nodded again, and noticed that they were finally leaving the highway and going into the suburbs now. Even though it was near pitch-black outside, Lynne could still make out the vibrant colours of the houses they drove past thanks to her feline night vision. Just like outside of the hospital, there weren't a whole lot of people walking around this late at night. The only person she saw was a rock-headed man on a moped. Lynne could see the fear in his eyes as he passed them. Unlike the other inhabitants of the town, he didn't try and get away from them. In fact, he seemed to be following every turn they made, but stayed in front of the car.

Nicole lowered her head onto the steering wheel in frustration. "Oh, please don't tell me Richard's ordered another pizza… That's his third order tonight."

She then turned to Lynne and said, "By the way, get used to seeing him." Nicole pointed towards the food-delivery vehicle driver in front of them with a clawed finger.

"Who, that guy? What do you mean?" Lynne asked, eyeing the rock figure out of curiosity. "Does your husband order from that place a lot?"

The blue-furred feline sighed. "Yes, but that's not what I meant. That man- his name escapes me-"

"It's Larry!" The rock-man yelled from next to them as they came to a stop beside each other at a set of red lights. "How can you not know my name? I work every job in this town! You see me literally every day!"

Nicole grumbled and leaned out of the driver's side window. "Is that pizza for Richard?"

"Yes, your husband ordered this. Or maybe some other people moved into 1026 York Street in the two hours since he last ordered from us…" Larry stared her down.

"Is he paying in cash?" The businesswoman narrowed her eyes, and Lynne prepared for the worst.

"Uh… Yes?" The pizza delivery man squeaked. "Oh, no. You're not going to-"

Nicole cut him off. "I'm not letting you deliver that pizza!" She roared, engine revving wildly as the lights turned amber.

"What? That's ridiculous. I already have the receipt, and a record of the call proving Richard ordered it! It's well past the customer cancellation window, because as you can see, I've already made the pizza!" Larry blabbed, opening the box and flashing the greasy-looking food.

"What would it take to call all this off?" Lynne wondered aloud.

The rock spoke to her directly now. "The only way out of this, I'm afraid, is paying a cancellation fee of-"

"We're not paying!" Nicole yelled with enough ferocity that when the lights turned green, Larry popped a wheelie in his dash to flee the scene. All that anger disappeared again as she turned to her passenger. "Lynne?"

"Yeah?" The beige-furred cat's fearful expression rivalled Larry's.

"Keep your head back, it'll stop you getting whiplash."

"What-?"

Without warning, the blue-furred feline slammed a bare paw down on the accelerator and raced after the delivery boy. Luckily, Lynne had heeded Nicole's advice just in time, narrowly missing another round of head trauma. However, this didn't stop her from melting in the seat behind her, the G-forces pulling her skin back to reveal her gums. Nicole wasn't affected at all. The houses flew past so fast that their vibrant colours blurred into a muddy brown, and lawn ornaments in the gardens they passed got blown tens of feet away from the shockwave the car was causing.

The fire in Nicole's eyes was back and burning in full force. Lynne prised herself from the seat and tried to make sense of the situation she had found herself in. So this woman was really chasing this poor guy over what must have been twenty dollars at most? Whatever happened to being fine with her husband's eating habits? Slowly but surely, she was beginning to see what the bandage-nurse meant. Lynne exhaled softly and made no attempt to argue with Nicole over this.

The distance between the hood of the Watterson vehicle and the back wheel of Larry's moped got smaller and smaller as they flew down the empty stretch of suburban road. They were both going so fast that they were leaving trails of fire in their wake. The delivery boy's cart of pizza boxes was rattling restlessly. Larry peeked back at Nicole, let out a squeak, and suddenly veered left to drive level with her driver's side window.

"What on Earth are you doing? This is crazy!" Larry shouted, the cap on his rock-head flapping violently in the wind.

"Give it up, Larry! Richard's had enough deliveries for one night, and we're not taking any more! Turn around or you'll end up in the dirt!" Nicole threatened, intentionally swerving to barely miss bumping into his moped.

Larry wailed back, "I can't! I don't want to lose my jo-ho-hob!"

"Uh, guys…" Lynne's eyes widened as she saw a T-junction fast approaching them. "You know about the whole… Calling this off thing?"

"At least someone in that car has a stable head on their shoulders!" The rock commented, adjusting his grip on the vibrating pizza box. "Just let me do my job!"

"That's not what I meant!" The beige-furred cat's voice rose in intensity, pointing at the end of the road with a shaky paw.

Both drivers followed her gaze in unison. A road at a right angle to the current one greeted them, with a row of houses on the other side of it, and they were speeding towards them at a velocity she couldn't even comprehend. Lynne instinctively yelled in fright, as did the older two Elmoreans. The younger cat buried her head in her hands and waited for the inevitable. She was going to end up back in the hospital, she knew it…

CRASH

From inbetween her paw-digits, Lynne's morbidly curious mind got the better of her. She watched as Nicole tried to swerve onto the adjoining road- luckily there were no cars there for her to hit- but her efforts were fruitless. The car clipped the kerb with both right-hand wheels and impossibly flew up over the house next to it in painful slow motion. Lynne was thrown around and around with the unstoppable momentum of the vehicle, though her trusty seatbelt kept her from flying through the windshield. Speaking of, several of Larry's undelivered pizzas found their home somewhere on the glass or the hood, the cheese and tomato slipping through the cracks and ruining the upholstery. Despite all this, Nicole still found the time to complain that she had just cleaned the car.

Lynne had no idea what happened to Larry. Not that she could see much of her surroundings in the first place, given that she was in a giant washing machine. Time suddenly sped back up after the apex of their flight, and they landed harshly on the other side of the houses. A blurred view of a garden with a perfectly clipped lawn, a brown shed, and a big blue building still swam through Lynne's mind as they came to a perfect stop. The car had aligned itself perfectly in a parking space next to the kerb.

Nicole looked entirely unfazed by what had just happened. She glanced out of her window and happily chirped, "Well, we're home!"

The beige cat's fur was a mess, tufts sticking every which way. A quick shake of her body fixed that, but she was still so confused that she barely registered what the older cat had said. Lynne blearily responded, "Wha?"

Lynne took in the building they had landed in front of. A two-storey detached house. Blue paint, white porch, no driveway. So this was the Watterson house. She wasn't sure what she had expected from them, and after glancing at Nicole again, she rewrote her hypothesis. No, these people weren't rich, but they didn't look poor either. Back to the house. The faint glow of a nightlight in the upstairs window facing the street was enough for Lynne to make out that it was a children's room, with bunkbeds and a computer and lots and lots of posters.

But wait… If the light was on, and it was nearly 11PM now, then didn't that mean that-?

"They better not still be awake. They've got school in the morning, and I can't show up late for work again…" Nicole sighed. "Anyway, let's get you inside."

Lynne blinked. Had Nicole just… Forgotten that they had just had a high-speed pursuit?

As soon as the businesswoman placed her blue paw on the inside door handle, a blur of moped and rock-man landed upright on the sidewalk just outside the driver-side door. Miraculously, Larry was still holding Richard's pizza. Without saying a word, he hopped off of his delivery vehicle, straightened his red cap, and defiantly marched up the path to the front door. Lynne didn't dare say a word. She heard hyperventilating coming from the seat to her left, getting harsher and harsher until suddenly, the car door flew open. Nicole was a feral pulsing mass of muscle now, and after a guttural growl, she took off after the delivery boy on all fours.

Larry inhaled deeply, climbing the porch steps, and placed a polygonal finger on the doorbell. Nicole's teeth were bared, sharp canines glistening in the moonlight. Lynne watched in awe from the car. When Nicole was mere feet away from tearing Larry to shreds- or just taking the pizza off of him, Lynne wasn't sure how far the mother would go- thundering steps came from inside the house. They were so loud that the visitor could make them out from the road. The front door of the house opened swiftly, and a tall, rotund rabbit dressed in a dressing gown, underwear and slippers stood in the doorway.

"Hi, Larry!" He spoke with a wide smile.

"One pepperoni pizza?" Larry asked as if everything was fine."

The pink rabbit nodded decisively, and the pair exchanged goods. Larry parted with the food, the large man with his cash, just a couple of bank notes and coins. The latter casually waved at the approaching figure behind Larry.

"Hi, honey! Was your journey okay?"

His sweet tone stopped Nicole dead in her tracks, and she was back on two feet with her normal proportions again. She cleared her throat as Larry weaved his way around her on his way back across the garden and sped off on his moped. Meanwhile, Lynne crept out of the car. Upon approaching the house, her gaze was drawn back up to the front-facing upstairs window. Something had changed since she last looked at it. Where the room had looked empty before, there were now three small faces watching her walk down the path.

Lynne caught them speaking hurriedly to each other. She couldn't make out what they were saying, and just as they appeared, they all darted out of view. The beige-furred cat raised an eyebrow. Those must have been the children Nicole was talking about. The tallest, another blue cat, must have been Gumball. The orange fish- that was definitely Darwin, the one who had found her. But the tiny rabbit… She had no idea who that was. Oh well, they'd probably run into each other in the morning. Lynne shook her head and walked on.

"Yes dear, everything went fine." Nicole told him, pulling the large Elmorean into a hug. "But did you really have to order a third pizza?"

The rabbit chuckled. "Oh, this one isn't for me, it's for Lynne! Hospital food is icky, and if she's going to be staying here, I want to give her a true Watterson welcome!" He slapped the top of the pizza box with his sausage-fingers.

"… Oh." Nicole stood perfectly still, frozen in place.

Lynne stepped up onto the porch. "Uh… Hi. Richard, right?"

"That's right!" Richard confirmed, holding his free hand out to the somewhat nervous cat.

Lynne tentatively grasped and shook, but the rabbit's hand completely engulfed hers and his grip was so strong that several bone-cracking sounds could be heard. Richard finally let go of her, and the beige feline gazed at her newly-crushed fingers in some sick combination of awe and horror. However, by the time she had registered the injury, her hand was suddenly fine again. Lynne didn't have much time to think about that because the pizza box was suddenly shoved in her face.

"Enjoy!" The rabbit sang, handing the pizza over to her.

The box was so big that Lynne had to hold it with both hands, and it was pleasantly warm. It smelled delicious too, and she immediately felt a pang of hunger. Richard was right- hospital food was pretty nasty.

A small smile crept onto the guest's features. "Oh, uh… Thanks."

"Now, come in, come in, and know me better, man!" Richard was positively beaming and slung a thick arm around her shoulders. "If you think that pizza is the only delight available to you in this household, then you are sorely mistaken!"

Lynne found herself being ushered into the house by his big thick paw. She looked back at Nicole in confusion. The businesswoman gave her a look in response that Lynne took to mean, "Get used to this, that's just how he is." Nicole locked the car, walked in after them, and closed the door behind them.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a review. The next chapter will be coming soon. Until next time... - Lynne**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Passion of Celaya

**A/N: Hi! Lynne here. Sorry to keep you waiting. Here's the third chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the Amazing World of Gumball.**

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Lynne took a seat on the weathered brown sofa in front of the cathode-ray television in the middle of the living room, putting the uneaten pizza down on the coffee table for the time being. The alien surroundings were a little overwhelming. A spacious living room adjoined to the front porch, a wooden staircase leading up to what she presumed were the bedrooms, a currently brightly-lit kitchen to her right, and a back room leading to the backyard- the latter of which she had recognised from her impromptu flight with Nicole.

Said cat approached the sofa and asked her sweetly, "Can I get you anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?"

"Coffee's fine, thanks." Lynne gave a smirk in return.

"Sure! Just let me get that ready for you…" The older cat trailed off as she bounced into the kitchen.

Lynne, meanwhile, was left to go back to drift in and out of paying attention to the fast-paced Spanish soap opera blaring on the TV. The figure sitting next to her on the sofa, however, was much more engrossed in the drama. Richard was clutching a huge bag of popcorn like a newborn baby and shovelled handfuls of it into his mouth between 'oohs', 'aahs', and gasps of shock. "The _nerve _of Bianca to stand Adrian up like that! They've been planning this date for _months!"_

"Do you watch this sort of thing a lot?" Lynne asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, all the time! I _have _to. The plots are _so _gripping and if you miss just one episode of a show, you'll miss out on vital information!" Richard explained.

"Fair enough." The cat finally reached for her pizza, opened the box, and took a lukewarm pepperoni slice out of it. Before she took a bite, she asked, "How do you have the time to keep up with all this?"

"I'm unemployed!"

Lynne tilted her head. "And… That's a _good _thing?"

"It's best if Richard stays unemployed." Nicole called from the kitchen.

"Why's that?"

The businesswoman sighed. "Because the last time he tried to get a job…"

"Reality started to fall apart!" Richard finished his wife's sentence for her. "So I have a _perfectly _valid excuse."

Lynne decided to take his word for it. She sank back into the sofa and devoured her slice of pizza. It tasted way better than she thought it was going to, which made her almost understand why Richard felt compelled to eat so many pizzas. She eagerly grabbed a second slice. Her excitement over this must have shown on her face, because the large rabbit turned to ask her, "Tastes good, huh?"

She hummed in agreement, nodded, and swallowed.

"I knew you'd like it. Best pizza in Elmore…"

Lynne could tell that he was eyeing her food, but she also knew he wouldn't get away with stealing any with Nicole just a few feet away from them. The beige-furred cat watched her mix the milk into her coffee with a few clinks of the spoon. Lynne hadn't specified how she liked her coffee, but she honestly wasn't too bothered about it. The last thing she wanted to do was order this family around mere minutes after being invited into their home.

By the time the commercial break came on, flashing images of high-end products that she'd never heard of before, Nicole was back in the living room placing the steaming mug down on the coffee table.

"Careful, I'm pretty hot!" A voice Lynne didn't recognise piped up.

It took her a few moments to realise it was the mug itself that was talking to her, face and all.

"Uh… Thanks for letting me know?"

After Nicole took a seat next to her, she was flanked by Wattersons on either side. Nicole must have made a cup of coffee for herself too because she was sipping from another mug. Lynne eventually followed suit and drank some of her own.

"This is pretty good, too…" The younger cat commented.

Nicole waved a hand and deflected with, "Oh, it's not _that _good, surely."

"No, I'm serious. Are you as big a fan of coffee as Richard is of pizza?"

The Watterson matriarch shrugged. "When your day is as hectic as mine, you tend to get through a lot of it. Getting the kids out the door for school, going to work, coming home, dealing with the aftermath of whatever amazing idea Gumball had that day… You need a lot of coffee to deal with all that. Not that I'd change anything for the world, of course."

"How many cups have you had today?"

"This is my seventh." Nicole pointed to the now half-empty mug.

"Woah… That much coffee would probably put me in a coma. Back into one, I mean." Lynne laughed nervously.

The awkward silence was rescued by the return of The Passion of Celaya, after the ad break. Richard wiggled in his seat in anticipation, the whole sofa rumbling with him. Lynne managed to keep the mug in her hand steady, and picked up another slice of pizza with her free hand. She held it out to Nicole, but the older cat declined.

"I can't, sorry, we already ate earlier."

"That's okay. What did you have to eat?" Lynne asked.

"Oh, just macaroni and cheese."

The beige-furred feline smirked. "And pizza, too?"

Nicole shook her head. "No, that was just Richard…"

Lynne glanced back at said rabbit, but she figured he was too engrossed in his telenovela to know or care that they were talking about him. She still felt slightly guilty, however, and tried to steer the conversation away from him and onto the Wattersons that weren't literally a foot away from them.

"I saw your children upstairs." Lynne told the cat to her right.

"Oh, so they _didn't _go to bed after all… Oh well, it's them who are going to have to get up early for school tomorrow." She sighed.

"What about you? Didn't you say you had work?"

"I get by with power naps. It worked when the kids were younger, and I never really grew out of them."

"As long as you can drive okay and everything." Lynne responded, beginning to worry about Nicole's mental wellbeing.

"I'm fine. I have to be." Nicole finished the last of her coffee and licked the fur around her mouth clean.

Lynne was close to finishing her pizza now, too. "How many kids do you have again?"

"Three. Gumball, Darwin, and Anais."

"Is she the rabbit?"

"Yes. She takes after her father in looks, but intellect…" Nicole motioned towards her husband, who in trying to get the last of the popcorn out of the bag, ended up getting the kernels all over his face. "Anais doesn't share his."

Lynne snorted. "Good at school?"

"Better than that. She's four, and she's in the grade above Gumball."

The cat stared at the businesswoman in disbelief. "Who is… Twelve?"

"Yes. Darwin's in his grade, too, even though he's only ten. Darwin and Anais are both ahead of the curve, but she's in a totally different league." Nicole told her with a proud glint in her eye.

"Huh… What does Gumball think about that?"

"He's too wrapped up in his own little world to care. He's just happy to have someone who makes him breakfast every morning and helps him with his homework when I'm working late and his father is being Richard." The blue-furred feline's ears swivelled towards the stairs as she spoke.

Lynne followed them, expecting to see the children on the stairwell eavesdropping, but saw nothing. "Gumball's an interesting name."

"It's more of a nickname… Well, not so much anymore."

"Then why do you still call him that? Is it a term of endearment kind of thing?"

"It's not a nickname anymore because it's his legal name now." Nicole said as her ears slowly retook their neutral position.

"And Darwin's Darwin because…?" Lynne motioned to her legs.

"Actually, no. That was a coincidence." Nicole laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Long story. Almost as long as his full name. It's…" She began, but stopped herself. "No, I'll let him tell you his name in the morning. He loves to recite it to people."

"Must be some name…"

"I'll say!" Richard chimed in. "It's so long, even I can't remember all of it!"

"Where did your name come from, Lynne?" Nicole asked in a hurried tone.

The younger cat grinned. Clearly, Richard had said too much. "I heard it on the radio."

Nicole's face fell. "Oh, I'm so sorry… How could I forget-"

Lynne cut her off. "It's fine. It definitely feels like my real name, whether it's the same as whatever it was before or not. Who knows, maybe _I _was called Gumball too."

She didn't laugh. Nicole gave the beige-furred cat a deadly serious expression and told Richard to turn the TV off, which he did with some hesitation. The guest was about to utter something in confusion, but Nicole's almost motherly tone made her forget about that fairly quickly.

"Lynne, I can't imagine how hard this must be for you, but while you're under this roof, you'll have our support."

Lynne closed her eyes and exhaled. They really _were _prepared to help her out, and that made her feel safe and secure. When she spoke, her voice came out much croakier than she expected. Was she tearing up? Where did _that _come from? Though, in reality, she knew exactly why she was upset. Being in this house and relaxing with a good drink had given her time to process her situation, and now it was all catching up with her. This family was all she had, and she didn't want to think about where she would be without them.

"Thank you…" She mumbled as Nicole took her paws in hers.

"Things will be okay." The older cat reassured her. "Now, are you finished with your food?"

Lynne wiped away her ears and nodded. She was stuffed, and left a couple of slices in the box. Catching sight of Richard's sympathetic, but ravenous eyes, she knew what she needed to do. The guest handed the pizza over to the rabbit who happily devoured it in seconds.

"Thanks!" He blurted with his mouth full. "Nicole's right! We'll look after you!"

The blue-furred cat let go of Lynne's hands and smoothed out the creases in her grey business skirt. "Let me give you a quick tour of the house. Then, I can show you where you'll be sleeping."

"I was just going to ask about that. I can sleep on the sofa, I don't mind at all." Lynne suggested.

"No, don't be silly! You have a bed waiting for you upstairs."

"If you're sure, then… Sure." The younger cat grinned and downed the rest of her coffee.

The pair of felines stood up in unison, and Lynne let Nicole take the lead.

"Don't stay up too late, Richard. You don't want to miss breakfast tomorrow, do you?" The latter warned her husband, who gave an affirmative grunt back.

His actions betrayed his words and he flipped the TV back on, though lowered the volume.

Nicole beckoned for Lynne to follow her as she strode through the archway that joined the living room to the kitchen. It was a rather small room with a tiled floor, a fridge with a calendar and various letter magnets pinned to it- Lynne noticed they currently read 'UFO'- and various cabinets. Lynne got the first look at herself from the pair's reflections in the pitch-black window. She was about a head shorter than Nicole. At some point during the night, she must have accidentally changed her hair colour again, because now it was fuller and the same colour as her light-brown body fur. Her ill-fitting football shirt hung loose on her body, though thankfully her shorts fit her much better.

"Nicole?"

"Yes, Lynne?"

The younger cat frowned and tugged at the bottom of her dark blue shirt. "What am I going to do about clothes?"

"Hmm…" Nicole thought for a few moments before responding with, "In this house, we save money by just wearing the same clothes every day and washing them every night. It works for us, but I didn't know whether you'd be comfortable with that. If you're not, we were going to go to the mall on Saturday anyway, so we can just get you some more then."

Lynne studied the kitchen counter, noticing remnants of flour and sugar. "I'm fine with either. I'll try just wearing this for now and see how I feel in a few weeks. Oh, and if we're going to the mall, is it okay if I get a better photo taken for a proper ID card while we're there?"

"Of course you can." Nicole smiled warmly back at her. "So, this is the kitchen…"

"Really? Could've sworn it was the bathroom." Lynne joked, getting a chuckle out of the older cat.

"That's upstairs. You don't need to go now, do you?"

"No."

"Okay." Nicole made her way across the small room, pointing out almost every drawer and compartment and explaining their contents to a tired cat who only just gathered more information than she did from the telenovela. The caffeine must not have been doing a whole lot for her.

"And here's where we keep all the bowls, knives and forks, cereal…"

Lynne's ears perked up at the mention of food. If she took in anything of what Nicole was telling her, she would rather know where the food was.

"If the fridge looks empty now, that's normal because we go shopping on Sundays. If it's empty earlier in the week, blame Richard." Nicole relayed with her head in the fridge. Lynne was peering inside too, but saw Richard winking and shrugging at her out of the corner of her eye.

When the younger cat took her head back out and closed the small door, Nicole was already walking towards the room at the back of the kitchen. A thought seemed to strike her midway across, though, as she whirled around to instruct to Lynne, "Oh, and if you're ever home alone with the kids, or we're just not around, can you supervise whatever they do in here? Usually I'd just trust Anais to stop the boys from injuring themselves, but she can't reach the counters, so all she can really do is yell at them."

"And I'm guessing that doesn't work too well…?"

"Not very well, no." Nicole admitted. "Can I trust you with that responsibility?"

"Yeah. I promise I won't let them hurt themselves."

"Good…" The other feline sang. "And you won't use scare tactics to keep them in line?"

"What?"

The mother sighed. "Their grandmother likes to frighten them into behaving."

"Oh, uh…" Lynne didn't know what to say. She made a promise to herself then and there to not speak ill of said family member.

A promise that was swiftly broken as Nicole told her, "That's a bad thing."

The beige cat laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, of course."

"Anyway… Here's the laundry room." Nicole nodded towards the washing machine that Lynne saw when they walked in. "Just let me handle the laundry for now. Richard isn't the best at it. And through there-" She pointed at a door with a similarly blacked-out window, "Is the backyard. The kids are out there most days and you don't need to supervise them there. Don't be surprised if they want to play with you."

"What sort of things do they get up to?"

"Water fights, building forts, using their imagination… Ordinary kid things. But be careful. There's a high probability that you'll be chasing after them on some adventure halfway across town."

"That was weirdly specific…" The guest commented.

"Well, that's because it happens a lot." Nicole explained with her hands on her hips. "After a while, you just accept it as part of life."

"Have you ever tried to keep a lid on it?"

"Gumball can't be contained. It's easier to just let them do what they want, because Anais will make sure they come home safe."

"Most families wouldn't put that much trust in their four-year-old…"

Nicole giggled. "We're not like most families."

"Clearly."

Lynne let the other cat lead her through the house, approaching another doorway that lead back into the living room. She passed a pink phone mounted on the wall, as well as a passed-out pink rabbit on the sofa. The Passion of Celaya was still running on the television, but the sole watcher in the house was now snoring loudly. She saw Nicole give her husband a gentle smile, lean over the back of the couch, and plant a kiss on his forehead. The older cat then continued on towards the front door.

"Let me show you upstairs now." Nicole told her and began to make her way up the creaking wooden steps.

"Should I try to keep quiet?"

"Honestly, no. The children will almost certainly be eavesdropping." She said, soon reaching the landing and waiting for the guest to ascend after her.

"Sure. So…" Lynne waved a claw-tipped finger up and down the hallway. "What's in all these rooms?"

"Most of them are bedrooms, except this one." Nicole nodded towards the middle door, marked 'WC', and carefully prised it open. It was dark at first, but after she switched on the lights, Lynne immediately recognised it as a bathroom. Pale-green paint lined the walls, and at the back of the room sat a rustic-looking bath-shower combo.

"There are spare toothbrushes in the cabinet above the sink, and if you can't find anything, just ask me. Oh, and since you won't be going anywhere often, it's best if you waited until later in the day to get up. There are five of us here already, and almost all of us have to get up at the same time. Every morning is a battle, and you can count yourself lucky you won't have to deal with that. Just get a towel out of your room any time after eight-thirty." The businesswoman told Lynne, opening and closing the cabinet she had mentioned.

"Even on weekends?"

"Even on weekends. I work Saturdays sometimes and the kids always wake up at the break of dawn. And if Richard's taking them somewhere, it's an all-out brawl." She mimed a punch while Lynne stared at her wide-eyed.

The guest couldn't stop herself from asking, "Who wins?"

Nicole didn't miss a beat. "I'm a black belt in karate, dear."

Lynne found herself lost in her thoughts, imagining the hard-working feline in front of her roundhouse-kicking Richard out of the way, sending him tumbling down the stairs and flying straight through the front door.

Nicole's gentle laughter brought her out of her trance. "Yes, it's a lot like that."

"Wow." Lynne made a mental note to only ever shower in the afternoon. "Where's my room?"

"It's right next to the bathroom." Nicole walked back into the hallway with the younger cat in tow.

Lynne turned to her left and saw a door at the end of the hall with 'Gumball' and 'Darwin' plastered on it in blue and orange uneven lettering. She motioned to a different room right of the bathroom and asked, "This one?"

"No, that's my room. Though, with how much space Richard takes up in bed you'd be forgiven for thinking it was just his room."

"Right…" Lynne took a few steps back, making sure not to fall down the stairs in the process. "So that means…"

"Yes, it's this one." Nicole confirmed, gripping the handle to the room on the other side of the bathroom and stepping inside. "It's not much, but it's something at least."

Lynne strolled past the threshold, feeling much softer carpet under her bare footpaws than the one back in the hallway. The bedroom walls were painted an off-white colour- thankfully for her, not too similar to the walls of her hospital room- and a dim lamp on the bedside table illuminated it all for her. There was a glass of water with dentures in it next to the light source which made Lynne cringe internally. Nevertheless, she was happy with the comfortable-looking single bed and the large windows at the back of the room that gave her a view of the garden. Lynne knew that it would be a great sight to wake up to in the morning.

There was even a TV on top of the small bookshelf of birdwatching guides and various political memoirs of candidates she had never heard of. The TV looked even older than the one in the living room and wasn't plugged in. Whoever had stayed in here last clearly had no interest in it. Lynne wasn't as religious a watcher as Richard anyway, so she didn't mind.

There were various black-and-white photographs on the walls of what looked like a young Richard with an older female rabbit. There were noticeably no pictures of Nicole or the children in here, unlike the photographs she had seen downstairs. She saw a blue arm interlocked with Richard's out of frame in one of the photos in here- was this a wedding photo with Nicole cut out of it?

"What do you think?" Again, it took the sound of Nicole's voice to break Lynne out of her inner musings.

"Oh, uh… It's nice. Thanks for letting me sleep here, by the way."

"Don't mention it." Nicole smiled at her, but her expression soon hardened when she saw the photos on the walls.

"Who usually stays in this room? It's, uh, pretty themed to be a random guest room."

"My mother-in-law." The older cat snapped with a tone as cold as ice.

Lynne mouthed an 'ohhh'. "Then… What are we going to do if she visits while I'm here?"

The blue feline responded in a much too cheery tone given the context, "If you're sleeping in here, it'll give us an excuse to tell her she can't stay here. But, seeing as she won't take no for an answer… Let's talk about this closer to the time, okay?"

"That's fine with me." Lynne was beginning to despise said mother-in-law as much as she suspected Nicole did, and she hadn't even met her. "But can we do something with that?" She motioned to the offending glass with a disgusted expression. "I'm scared I'll accidentally drink out of it in the night or something."

"Gladly!" Nicole swiped the glass from the table, strutted over to the open window and poured the contents out of it in one smooth motion. "Want me to do anything else for you?"

"I'm fine for now. Does the TV work?"

"No. It hasn't for years. It doesn't even have a mains plug. It's just… There. We never threw it out due to…" Nicole hesitated. "Complaints from certain elderly lapine individuals."

"Right." Lynne was zoning out again, a feeling that increased tenfold as she sat down on the side of the bed, testing the mattress.

She couldn't help but let a loud yawn escape from somewhere deep within her. With that, she decided to surrender to her growing tiredness and straightened out on the small bed. Lynne's head rested upon a plush white pillow that smelled faintly of cabbages. Her nose wrinkled. She'd get used to it. At least, she hoped she would. Half-closed eyes made contact with Nicole's once more.

"Well, there's nothing else for me to show you, so… I'll let you sleep. If you need anything, don't be afraid to knock on my door. Richard's snoring keeps me awake most nights, so you don't need to worry about waking me up. Goodnight, Lynne! See you at breakfast!" Nicole bid her a lively farewell and closed Lynne's bedroom door behind her.

The beige-furred feline was alone again. Lynne flipped over onto her back and stared at the ceiling, contemplating that day's events. She took note of how she wasn't the slightest bit nauseous from her pizza-chase earlier, and that led her to think about what the bandage-doctor had told her about her quick-to-heal wounds. Thinking of herself as an Elmorean didn't feel quite right, but what else _could _she be? She had an official diagnosis from the hospital, and it's what she was marked as on her temporary ID card. She exhaled softly. She was sure the feeling would pass. She heard Nicole's footsteps getting softer and softer, the gentle rhythm eventually lulling her to sleep.

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**A/N: So, what did you think? Write a review and let me know. Until next time... - Lynne**


	4. Chapter 4 - Bacon Caramello

**A/N: Hi! Lynne here. Here's the fourth chapter. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the Amazing World of Gumball.**

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Lynne awoke to the sound of birdsong, cars driving past the house, and what sounded like a boxing match happening right outside her door. She groaned, stretched, and willed herself out of bed. Her feline ears swivelled towards the source of the loudest and closest noise to her. They picked up the voice of a child, several children, as a matter of fact. The longer she listened, the more confused she became. In any case, she did not want to interrupt whatever was going on outside.

"In this corner, hailing from the bottom bunk and weighing enough to guarantee the force of Earth's gravity working efficiently upon him… Gumball!" A high-pitched voice declared.

Lynne frowned. That was an odd way to word things…

She heard one person clap and cheer, before the disembodied voice continued. "And in this corner, the amphibious assassin, Darwin!"

More cheering, followed by hurried instructions. "Now, I want a good, clean fight! The winner gets first dibs on showering, and the loser has to wait until everyone else has showered before they can!"

Lynne heard a different child groan. "Seriously? Even the alien?"

"I highly doubt that she's an extra-terrestrial, Gumball." The first voice huffed.

A third voice, somewhere inbetween the other two in terms of maturity, piped up with, "Can we start the fight now?"

"Yes. May the best cat… or fish… win!" The first voice declared, and Lynne could hear the banging of a pan, which she assumed was supposed to be a stand-in for a bell.

What followed was around two minutes of yelling, screaming and slapping. Lynne sat in silence with her back against the door. _The alien… _They were talking about her, weren't they…? Maybe winning over the children would be more difficult than getting the parents to like her. Then again, it's not like the latter took much. All it took was offering one of them food and accepting the landslide of responsibilities thrust upon her out of nowhere by the other.

"What is going _on _out here?!" Ah, finally, a familiar voice.

Lynne envisioned Nicole out there with her hands on her hips, glowering down at the children with fury in her eyes.

"They couldn't decide on who got to shower first, and wanted me to referee for them." The highest voice explained as though it was completely normal.

Lynne heard Nicole exhale sharply. "I appreciate you trying to help, Anais, but I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night and I haven't had my coffee yet. Couldn't you find a way to decide on this without all the-" Nicole was cut off by the yells of the other two fighting. "All the _that?"_

"Sorry, Mom…" They apologized.

Lynne realised that through their shenanigans, she had inadvertently learned to match the names of the children to the voices. The highest-pitched one was Anais, the one who called her a UFO was Gumball, and the squeakiest one must have been Darwin. She smiled to herself. She had seen them without being able to hear them, and now she was hearing them without being able to see them. Of course, she could just walk out there now and greet them, but she figured it would be best to leave them all to it. Even though she had no recollection of her own family, she knew that intruding on moments like this always ended badly.

Lynne decided to get back up and wander over to the bed, not taking in much of the family's bickering going on outside. She busied herself by looking at the various family photos that were given a new sense of life by the enthusiastic light of the sun. Many were either black-and-white or in full colour, but washed out from years of exposure to the elements. Richard at some school event, Richard at prom, Richard looking tired sitting in a hospital room with a bundle of blankets in his arms… Strategically chosen pictures. The only reason the latter was in this room, Lynne theorised, was because although it was technically some baby picture, you couldn't actually _see _the baby in the photograph. Thus, it satisfied the grandmother's bizarre picture selection criteria.

The beige-furred feline's attention soon drifted back to the scene in the hallway. The children were still coming up with excuses in protest, though it was clear to her that they were running out of steam.

Nicole's commands worked in silencing them, at least for now. "Go and get ready for school. You three can shower later."

Lynne heard the bathroom door slam, and the sound of the shower spurting to life. She chuckled to herself. So Nicole _was _right about always being the first in the bathroom in the mornings. Based on what she had seen while she was in there, she guessed that the bath-shower combo must have been just on the other side of the wall. The younger cat was about to go back to staring at the view of a quiet suburb through the bay windows, before something unexpected captured her attention.

Nicole had begun to sing. Soft, melodious, and beautiful on all accounts. Lynne was taken aback. She didn't take the hard-working mother-of-three to be the type to enjoy singing like that, let alone be so amazingly good at it. Nicole had started humming a tune that the beige-furred cat found familiar and eventually this transitioned into clear vocals. Lynne tapped her fingers on the soft mattress from her sitting position on top of the quilt, her back against the bathroom-adjacent wall now. She patiently waited for Nicole to finish her verse, before jumping in to provide the harmonies for the chorus.

Lynne found that her own voice complemented the middle-aged feline's perfectly, and for a brief moment in time, they could have been in some expensive recording studio. Nicole didn't stop singing after Lynne joined in, which the latter was thankful for. In fact, Nicole put more weight behind her vocals in response, which pushed the younger cat to do the same. And so, the two cats purred.

_You feel good_

_It's funny that you understood_

_I knew you would_

_When you were good_

_You were very, very good_

Lynne laughed after the chorus came to a close and left Nicole to finish her shower- and her song- on her own. Meanwhile, the beige feline climbed back out of bed, this time on the side facing the window, and finally decided that it was time for her to truly appreciate the incredible view. She saw the sun winking at her- not that she looked at the sun for too long, she didn't want to damage her retinas- and diverted her attention to the sprawling suburbia that seemed to go on forever past the Wattersons' garden. The occasional bird flew by, passing over houses of all different shapes and colours. Beyond that, a dip in the landscape leading to rolling hills, more houses, and right off in the distance, skyscrapers, which must have been the inner city. She whistled softly.

Her gaze came closer to home once more, and right before she was about to turn back around, she took a quick peek at the neighbouring gardens. The one to the left of theirs wasn't too spectacular, but the one on the other side caught Lynne's eyes. Out laying in deckchairs, soaking up the summer sun, were two middle-aged puppet-like creatures. Lynne couldn't get away in time. The more masculine of the two shot up and peered at her, as if he was trying to make sense at her. He grabbed the arm of the sleeping figure on the other deckchair- his wife?- who grumbled and took off her sleeping-mask. She, also, visually vetted the cat. Lynne gave them an awkward smile and wave combination, though neither gesture was returned. They argued on mute for a few seconds before simultaneously flopping back down on their deckchairs once more, no longer paying her any attention.

Lynne was just happy to finally edge away from the window. Some neighbours they must be… Shaking her head, she ruffled the bed-head out of her hair and made for the kitchen. Someone else must have been in the bathroom now, because the singing had stopped. As Lynne made it out into the hallway- thankfully finding no warring children to run into- she was drawn to the sound of sizzling bacon. The smell shocked her awake and she held her head high as she descended the last few creaky stairs.

"I didn't know you could sing…" Nicole called from the kitchen.

Lynne smirked. "I could say the same about you."

The younger cat made her way over to the table where Richard was already sat. The large pink rabbit held his cutlery in both hands and eyed the spitting pan that Nicole was taming in eager anticipation. Clearly, he was not after the 'Daisy Flakes' cereal that was already on the table. Lynne figured it must be for the children, who hadn't arrived yet. She had only counted five chairs- four standard chairs and a high chair- but decided to risk sitting opposite Richard nonetheless. She expected to be told to move, but the instruction never came.

Instead, the rabbit spoke to her in a much too lively tone for this early in the morning, "So, how'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well, thanks. How about you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Richard nodded, "But I had the strangest dream. A witch was complaining that she couldn't sleep…"

"That was me, Richard." Nicole told him with a deadpan expression.

The rabbit looked shocked, and sputtered out, "You're a _witch?"_

"No, I… Nevermind." The blue feline dropped the subject and went back to flipping bacon.

Lynne rested her head on one of her hands, tilted to the side. "Did Bianca and Adrian make up?"

"Yes!" Richard cried, clapping his hands in glee. "You should have seen his face… Bianca was planning a surprise party for him! That's why he didn't show! Ah, young love…" The rabbit drifted off, eyes watering with pure emotion."

"Awww... You're making me feel guilty for not watching the rest of it with you." Lynne responded.

"It's fine, don't worry about it! It airs every night. We could watch it together tonight if you want!" Richard suggested, getting more and more excited with every word.

The beige cat heard a distinct hiss of bubbling fat come from the kitchen, followed by Nicole's stern tone. "Not tonight, you can't."

Richard appeared confused for a few moments. "Huh? Why not…? Ohhhh. Yeah, we can't tonight. Sorry about that."

"Why not?" Lynne asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nicole gave an answer before her husband could get a word in. "Because tonight is board game night. It brings the whole family together, and it's _much _more enjoyable than TV."

Lynne hesitated before speaking. "Uh… Do I count as-?"

"Yes. While you're under this roof, you count as family, and that means you'll be playing with us later." The blue feline explained, delivering a bolt of heartfelt emotion that flew through the cat at the kitchen table.

"Thank you… I didn't think you considered me, you know…"

"Well, we do. Don't we, Richard?" Nicole's tone turned more threatening as she glared at her husband.

"Yes, yes, definitely. Yeah!" The rabbit agreed.

"Okay. So… What's for breakfast?" Lynne questioned, eyeing Nicole's pan of assorted meats on the stove.

"On weekday mornings?" Nicole spoke rhetorically while she slipped the contents of the pan out onto a sizeable plate and carried it over to the table. "The kids get their cereal, and Richard gets… Everything."

She slammed the plate down in front of him. It was packed with bacon, sausages, eggs… Any greasy breakfast food that Lynne could think of must have been on that plate. Richard licked his lips, looking the Leaning Tower of Pork up and down with a ravenous glint in his eyes. Lynne couldn't believe that any single man could eat that much food in one sitting, let alone for breakfast.

"Wow." She breathed, only just being able to make out the rabbit's ears from behind the wall of meat.

Nicole carried on, completely unfazed by her husband's display of gluttony. "I usually eat cereal too, but not Daisy Flakes. They're _far _too sweet for me." She nodded towards the offending food packaging with its innocent winking donkey. "That girl's hiding a mountain of sugar. Raisin Bran's more than fine for me."

"What should I have?"

"Well, dear, you get to choose," The blue-furred feline told her gently. "Would you like nutritious cereal, rocket fuel, or the rest of the bacon et cetera before Richard asks for seconds?"

Lynne was stumped. She had to admit, she was very hungry, so she'd probably eat a lot of whatever she ended up choosing. The bran flakes, or whatever they were, seemed a bit too bland. Nicole _did _have a convincing sales pitch, but it wasn't enough to win the beige-furred feline over. And the Daisy Flakes… She'd probably find that too sugary. More importantly, it was primarily cereal for the children and she didn't think it would be right to essentially steal their breakfast. The fried food, on the other hand… It honestly looked as though Richard wouldn't be missing out if she ate some of that. It would fill her up, too, which was a bonus because then she wouldn't have to awkwardly ask them about what snacks were available later in the day. No, she didn't feel guilty about her decision at all. Heart disease it is.

Lynne gestured towards the rabbit's plate. "I'll take the bacon."

Richard hissed and hugged the plate of meat, getting grease all over his dress shirt.

"Not _your _bacon," The beige-furred feline clarified. "What's left over."

"Sure!" Nicole sang, and before Lynne could say another word, a hearty, albeit much smaller, plate of bacon and sausages was placed in front of her. "Just let me know if you want any more."

Lynne held off on eating right away. Half out of politeness, and half out of disgust. The cat had just noticed what Richard was doing with his food, and it was almost enough to put her off her own. He had repurposed one of the cereal bowls left on the table for some kind of soup, the only ingredient being syrup. Lynne wasn't away that they were having pancakes… Richard didn't need that excuse. She watched in abject horror as he took one of the strips of bacon and dunked it in the syrup. He turned it over again and again for so long that he could have been giving the rasher a bath. By the time he took it out, it was essentially marinated in the stuff. Lynne didn't realise her mouth was hanging open in shock at first, and so it took a few moments to compose herself before she attempted to make sense of all this verbally.

"What… What are you _doing?" _Lynne eventually spoke in a much quieter tone than she had intended.

Richard looked at her as though she was accusing him of a crime he didn't commit. "What? I'm just eating breakfast!" He smiled and dangled the syrup-covered meat over his maw.

"No, what did you do with the bacon?" She cried, pointing at the food at the end of Richard's fork."

"Oh, that? I just made a bacon caramello!" The rabbit responded smugly.

"A what?"

"A bacon caramello. I invented it myself! Two minutes on one side, two minutes on the other. Then it's ready to eat!" He then demonstrated this by swallowing the entire thing in one gulp.

Lynne stared at him, awestruck. She looked from her plate to his, then back to hers again.

"Want to try one?"

"Not… Right now. I'm fine with what I have now, thanks."

Richard shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The cat nodded and concentrated on cutting up her sausages into manageable portions. She didn't know if she could ever eat syrup again. Not after witnessing that. She eventually got around to sampling part of her breakfast. "Nicole… This is the best food I've tasted since the hospital. It's just… Wow. Do you cook all the food here?"

Nicole's feline features lit up with joy, and she blushed lightly. "Oh, it can't be _that _good…"

Lynne tore off another chunk of bacon and made a grunt of affirmation. "It really is."

"Seconded!" Richard chimed in, devouring his third bacon caramello. "It's way better than the food I cook."

"Oh, you cook too?" Lynne asked him.

Richard paused his carnivorous rampage to answer, "Yup! I mean, who do you think cooks for the kids when Nicole's at work?"

"Good point… Well, I'm sure your cooking is just as good as Nicole's. Whose cooking do the kids prefer?"

The couple spoke simultaneously.

"Mine!" Richard.

"Richard's," said Nicole. "but only because his idea of a healthy diet involves a lot more sugar than mine."

Lynne chuckled. "So their cereal was a kind of compromise?"

"Probably. I never thought about it that way…" The older cat admitted.

A thundering wave of footsteps came from the stairs. Lynne was able to make out blurs of blue, orange and pink, and suddenly the three Watterson children were sitting at the table inbetween her and Richard. Lynne focused on eating her breakfast for now, not ready to initiate conversation with them. She needn't have bothered, because Nicole ended up doing it for her. Standing on the other side of the counter that separated the living room and the kitchen, the older blue cat went about introducing her.

"Kids, this is Lynne. She's going to be staying with us until she's back on her feet."

"Hi, new person!" The fish in the middle seat said, waving enthusiastically and beaming all the while. "I'm Darwin Raglan Caspian Ahab Nicodemius Watterson the third! But most people just call me Darwin. How's your head? Does anything hurt? Do you remember anything yet? Mrs. Mom said you had amnesia."

Lynne found it difficult to keep up with the orange kid's rapid-fire questions. When she eventually looked up to meet his sympathetic gaze, she noticed that his older brother was staring at her, but she tried to pay it no mind and focused on talking to Darwin. "It's fine, no, and no."

"Okay! Oh, maybe we could try and do things that will help you remember stuff! Anais said something about… Sensory association?"

Anais was busy pouring cereal, then milk into her brothers' bowls, and reached for two glasses of orange juice on the counter before handing them to her two siblings in turn. She did all of this before preparing breakfast for herself and climbing into her high-chair.

The young rabbit nodded towards Darwin. "That's right. The brain ties experiences and senses to memories, and revisiting them makes the brain recall this linked information. That's why the taste of cotton candy reminds you of our trip to the carnival a few weeks ago, or-"

"Or why broccoli reminds me of math tests!" Darwin interrupted, noticing his sister's baffled expression and continuing in a whisper, "Miss Simian's breath smells like broccoli."

"Ohhh. Sure. Yeah, like that." Anais nodded again and turned to Lynne now. "Anything could bring something back. Hopefully, you'll remember who you are sooner rather than later."

"Yeah… Hopefully," Lynne repeated.

She was about to back to go back to her bacon, but noticed that the eldest Watterson child was still giving her that same deadly look. She finally decided to confront him about it. "Are you okay?"

The answer came slowly and just as accusatory. "You're sitting in Mom's seat."

Lynne blinked. "I am? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. Your mother didn't tell me it was hers…" Panicking a little, she glanced over at Nicole for support.

"It's fine, Gumball…" came his mother's voice from the kitchen, carrying her bowl of bran into the living room. "I'll just eat my breakfast on the couch."

The younger blue feline frowned nonetheless, and gave Lynne the I'm-watching-you expression with two of his paw-digits.

"I'll do that instead in the future," Lynne offered. "I don't want to mess up family traditions or anything."

Nicole shut that down in an instant. "Nonsense! I'll get another chair for you after work."

"But Mom," Gumball protested, "We don't _have _any other chairs."

"There's bound to be one in the attic," his mother swiftly countered. "Now, have you three packed everything for today like I asked you to?"

"Yes," Anais informed her, pointed to her school bag by the front door.

Darwin held up the bag that was by his feet. "Yeah! Ready for another day of learning!"

The male cat remained silent, something Nicole quickly picked up on. "Gumball? What about you?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just _fascinated _by my cereal. So many colours and flavours. Every bowl is unique, too. Isn't that amazing?" Gumball asked her rhetorically, picking up the box of Daisy Flakes and listing off random facts from the back of it. "Did you know that Daisy Flakes have so much artificial flavouring that the tiny amount of real fruit in them technically adds up to one of your five a day? What an _interesting _fact! I certainly didn't know that before. What about you, Darwin?" He leaned over towards his brother expectantly.

"No!" Darwin replied innocently. "I had no _idea _Daisy Flakes were that nutritious!"

Nicole sighed. "You didn't pack your bag, did you?"

"It's my bed's fault!" Gumball suddenly blurted. "It's just so _comfy! _If you punish anyone, you should punish the bed. In fact, it's _your _fault for buying me such a comfortable mattress."

His mother's seething, laboured breaths and tightly clenched paws were enough to shut him up. Gumball laughed nervously and downed the rest of his cereal in one gulp.

"In fact, I think I'll go pack my bag now. Bye!" With that, he zipped back up the stairs, leaving Nicole with her head in her hands.

"Sorry about that," Nicole apologized to Lynne. "I _did _warn you. He's… He's Gumball."

Anais chipped in with, "He's really not that bad."

"Mhm! He's kind and caring and the best brother ever!" Darwin praised with stars in his eyes.

"He'll warm up to you before long. Once he figures out how useful another adult being around, someone who doesn't know Mom or Dad _or _how they usually do things, is, he'll be all over you," Anais explained.

Lynne smirked. "I'll try not to let him take advantage of that. And besides, if he lies, you'll let me know, right?"

Anais glanced to the side. "Uh… Yes, of course I will. _Someone _has to be the responsible one."

Lynne ate her final sausage in silence. That was until she looked over at the tiny rabbit sitting in her high-chair and she was reminded of what Nicole told her. Said older cat had gone back into the kitchen to wash up the greasy pan she had used to cook Richard's food in earlier. Darwin was humming to himself inbetween slurps of sugar-charged milk, his father was still gorging on his meat feast, and Lynne just sat there baffled. Was this four-year-old _really _that smart? Why did the school even let her skip so many grades? What would happen when she got into high school, or college? Did they even _have _a college in this town? So many questions, and Lynne didn't know where to start.

She swallowed some bacon and pointed a fork at the smaller rabbit. "So… Your mother told me you were some kind of genius."

"That I am," Anais responded.

Lynne snorted. "Okay. So, what's two plus two?"

The rabbit looked at the other girl like she had just insulted her entire family at once. "Seriously? That simplistic? I was doing quadratic equations in the womb."

"That you may, but you still haven't given me an answer. It's okay if you can't do it. Math is a hard subject to get the hang of, especially when you're starting out. I mean, we all take it for granted, but we forget we're not just born with it. We had to learn how first," Lynne informed her.

Parents often hyped up their children's intelligence, but that was fine. Anais would learn how to answer sums in time, just like her brothers.

Darwin cut into the conversation and asked his sister, "Hey Anais, what's two-thousand one hundred and one times… Three hundred and three?"

"Six hundred and thirty-six thousand, six hundred and three," Anais answered without missing a beat.

Richard, who was now inexplicably dressed in a visor and large glasses, typed away furiously on a calculator and gasped. "She's right!"

He flipped the display around for Lynne to see, and her eyes went as wide as saucers. Holy cheesecakes…

"That's my girl!" Richard ruffled the short fur on his rabbit daughter's head.

Anais tilted her head towards Lynne. "Oh, and the answer is four, by the way."

The beige cat was too blown away to respond. She finished the remainder of her breakfast without even looking at her plate. Even so, she managed to put her cutlery together and wipe her mouth, something Richard didn't do. Despite the vast difference in food portions, he finished eating at the same time as her. Lynne ended up zoning out, and before long, Nicole was reaching for her empty plate. The younger feline instinctively gripped it, stopping Nicole in her tracks.

"Want me to help out with the washing up?" Lynne asked, hair flipping back as she craned her neck upwards.

The blue-furred cat politely shut her down and yanked the plate off of her. "No need! We have a dishawasher."

"Then how come you washed up that pan?"

"Dishwashers aren't the best at getting rid of grease," Nicole explained, walking around the table and collecting everyone else's plates and bowls.

Richard chimed in with, "Exactly! Licking them clean is the way forward!"

Lynne and Nicole shared another look. "But we don't do that because we have a dishwasher, _don't _we?" The latter asked her husband with venom in her voice.

"Uh… Yeah! We don't!" Richard then leaned over the table and whispered to Lynne, "Sometimes she forgets to wash stuff up and I can drink the grease while she's at work!"

"I can hear you, you know." Nicole told him, her head deep in the back of the dishwasher.

Her husband withdrew and moved to sit on the couch. Lynne found herself stretching again, and idly watched as the Watterson children began to congregate near the front door of the house, backpacks in hand. The eldest, however, was absent. That was, until a loud honking sound came from outside, prompting Nicole to yell, "Gumball! You're going to miss the bus!"

A streak of blue suddenly zipped downstairs at the speed of light, finally clearing at the door to reveal the figure of the youngest cat. He was panting profusely and had to lean onto the wall to catch his breath. All three siblings then walked past the threshold and into the outside, and then they were gone. Once they had left the house, Lynne wandered up the stairs with showering on her mind.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the wait. Uni's been kicking my butt, and then the lockdown happened. On the plus side, being stuck inside is giving me more time to upload more chapters. What did you think of this one? Leave a review and let me know. Favourites and follows are always appreciated. Until next time... - Lynne**


	5. Chapter 5 - Snookered

**A/N: Hi, Lynne here. Not much to say this time except I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

It was evening now. Lynne had spent the day showering, snacking, and letting Richard info-dump any and every piece of information about a TV show to her as they watched them together on the sofa. For someone who was apparently far from intelligent, they appeared to know a lot about anything on the box, from game shows to his favourite telenovelas to even advertisements. Lynne didn't just come away with that knowledge, as Richard had made sure to share snacking tips with her that, as he told her, the other family members had no interest in. Truthfully, Lynne found them to be equally as disturbing- The bacon caramello was only the tip of the food invention iceberg. However, she put on a brave face and even agreed to sample some of it.

She was their guest, she reminded herself. Nevertheless she felt a wave of relief overcome her when she heard the door open and all three Watterson children came back home, soon followed by Nicole half an hour later. Their presence was enough to distract Richard from his mammoth lecture and so allowed Lynne to go and recover in her room for a while. Dinner came and went without much hassle. More snarky comments from Gumball, more mass-gorging from Richard's end of the table. Lynne felt she was becoming ever closer to Nicole because of how grounded they both were. Nicole by choice, Lynne because she had literally been thrown into this environment and was having to deal with outrageous personality after outrageous personality.

After the last potato had been eaten, and Gumball had finished making jokes about how similar they were to a classmate of his called 'Idaho'- Lynne would have to ask Nicole about what he meant by that later- the matriarch of the household announced from her seat, "Now, it's my turn to pick the game we play tonight."

Gumball groaned, but she visibly ignored him. "I want to play something that we're all going to be good at. Lynne's only been here for a couple of days, so she hasn't had the time to get good at trivia games," She nodded towards Anais, "Apple-bobbing," Nicole nodded towards Darwin, "Or charades," Her final gesture was at Gumball.

Richard was wearing a wizard's cone hat, a black cape, and was juggling various sided dice in his big paws. Lynne chuckled inbetween sips of her coffee.

"Oh! What about-" He began, only to be cut off by his wife.

"We're not playing Dungeons and Dragons. Far too complicated to set up, and we're not wasting the evening teaching Lynne the ropes."

The beige-furred cat interjected here. "Really? What's it about?"

"Fighting fierce creatures, exploring vast landscapes, and singing songs of courage and friendship! What say you, adventurer?" The male rabbit asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Lynne.

Nicole rolled her eyes. "It's not as glamorous as it sounds. You have to make your own character from scratch, then figure out the battle system. It's all so confusing…"

Lynne glanced back and forth between the tired-eyed feline and the hyperactive pink rabbit, and ultimately decided to side with Nicole.

"So, what game are we going to play?" She asked the older cat politely, absent-mindedly stirring her coffee.

Lynne tried to block out the mug's incessant giggling and cries of 'That tickles!', and eventually found the solution to the problem- wrapping both hands around it, muffling its voice.

Gumball and Darwin shared a mischievous look and suddenly yelled in unison, "Dodge-or-Dare! Woo!"

They wrapped their arms around each other and started happy-crying.

"Oh, I never thought Mom would ever want to play it again!" Gumball said, head buried into Darwin's… Shoulder? Lynne narrowed her eyes. Darwin didn't _have _shoulders.

Said fish was sniffling profusely. "I _know!"_

"That wasn't what I was going to say, but I guess it isn't skill-based," Nicole conceded. "Fine. Dodge-or-Dare it is."

Anais mumbled something under her breath and facepalmed. "Will you be less… Aggressive about it this time, Mom?"

Nicole gave a hollow laugh. "Aggressive? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Mom, you're the _definition _of sore loser. Anais is right. _Please _don't go overboard this time," Gumball added.

The rabbit in the high chair blinked slowly. "Oh my gosh. You're going with that game so you can flex on Lynne, aren't you?"

"Can someone, uh, tell me what this game is?" Lynne asked.

At the other end of the table, Richard looked as though Lynne had told him to go on a diet. "Dodge-or-Dare isn't a game. It _controls _you. And you can't escape until someone finishes the game."

The beige-furred cat scratched her head and turned to the boys. "Is that accurate?"

Gumball disappeared, and when he returned to the table, he was holding a large box. Written on the top in primitive handwriting was the phrase 'Dodj-or-Daar'. Gumball then ripped the lid off, throwing it over his head. Lynne watched as it sailed over the kitchen counter and landed on the tiles next to the oven.

"This game…" He began, taking the pieces out of the box and holding them up like they were golden nuggets.

"This game…" Darwin put the game-board in the middle of the table.

"Is the best game ever made! I should know, I made it myself," Gumball told her smugly, thrusting a thumb towards his chest."

His fish brother piped up, "And _I _helped!"

"Yeah, I guessed it was home-made," Lynne said.

Gumball produced a die. "You roll the dice, pick a dare card-"

Darwin held up a card marked 'Daar', now dressed like a gameshow assistant.

"-And do what the card says," Gumball continued. "If you do it, you go forward that number of spaces. But if you're too _chicken _to do the dare…"

The fish mimed the flapping of wings and made clucking noises.

"Then you take a dodge card, do what it says, and move forward half the number of spaces," Gumball said.

Darwin showed Lynne a 'Dodj' card with a smile. "Got it?"

"And you win by making it to the end?" The guest queried, pointing to the last space on the board with her spoon.

Suddenly, the lighting in the room darkened, and Gumball growled, "That's if any of us _make _it that far. You want to play this game? You better get ready to have everything you know turned on its head."

Lynne pointed out, "Two things. One, I don't know a whole lot about myself anyway. Two, _you _said you wanted to play this game, not me."

Darwin gasped. "Did she just… Out-sass you?"

The room's lighting went back to normal, and the cat told his brother, "No. You must have been hearing things. _I'm_ the king of zingers."

Nicole cleared her throat. "Is everybody ready to play?"

The other Wattersons scrambled to pick up a counter. Gumball chose a car taken from a copy of Monopoly. Darwin got a badge with a smiling yellow face on it, and Anais selected a pawn from a chess game. All three children placed the counters on the starting square. Richard took a little longer to decide. He seemed to be torn between the odd assortment of remaining pieces. An eraser, a paperclip, a green plastic army-man, a bottlecap, and a long-expired 2-for-1 Joyful Burger coupon.

He eventually snatched the bottlecap. "Ready!"

"Yeah!" Gumball and Darwin shouted together.

Anais sighed. "Here we go again…"

"Lynne? What about you?" Nicole asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm in," Lynne picked up the toy soldier, while Nicole chose the paperclip.

Gumball glanced down at Lynne's piece and quipped, "Careful, he might take you away!"

Lynne rolled her eyes.

"Right then, let's get started!" Nicole announced, rubbing her hands together.

Lynne silently took note of who was sitting where at the table. Nicole to her left, then going clockwise, Gumball, Darwin, Anais, and Richard.

So, she figured, this would be the turn order. "Who goes first?"

Gumball instantly straightened up. "I made this game, so I get to go first."

No-one around the table challenged that, and so the youngest cat swiftly rolled a four and grabbed a 'Daar' card.

He then read it aloud like a town crier would recite off of some parchment. "Find a shoe and wear it on your hand for the rest of the game. Pfft. That's easy! Darwin, would you be so kind as to provide me with one of your sneakers?"

"Certainly, Gumball," The fish answered in a fake-posh accent, yanking the green shoe off of his foot and handing it to his brother.

Lynne was confused. Couldn't he just get some other footwear that _wasn't _being worn by anyone? And then it hit her. From what she had seen of them so far, Darwin was the only Watterson to wear shoes. Anais wore socks, and Nicole didn't even wear shoes while she was _driving. _Lynne should have expected that, given that she didn't wear shoes either. She absent-mindedly wiggled her toe-beans while Gumball drove the car forward.

It was Darwin's turn to roll. The fish only got a three, but that didn't seem to bother him.

He read out his card. "Get up the stairs without using any of your limbs. Okay!"

Darwin skipped over to the foot of the stairs, and everyone else followed. Lynne was curious as to how exactly the fish was going to manage this. Darwin pouted, bringing a hand up to his chin.

A few seconds later, he snapped his fingers, and a lightbulb shone over his head for a brief moment. "I _got _it!"

He took a few steps back and did a running-jump onto the banister. He flopped onto it face-down, and- to Lynne's horror- he grew a set of monstrously strong teeth and he used to bite into the wood and keep him in place. Lynne raised an eyebrow. Right, so he'd gotten _onto _the stairs, but what was he going to do now? She soon found out, although upon witnessing Darwin's solution, she wished that she had stayed at the table. He jerked his body back, then forwards, using the momentum to take his teeth out of the wood and plant them a few feet further up. He repeated this process over and over, like some demented mountain climber, until he finally reached the top. He thrust his arms up in a pose mimicking a scene from a boxing film and whooped in delight.

"Yeah! Way to go, buddy!" Gumball yelled, while everyone else downstairs looked positively shell-shocked.

Darwin slid down the banister- thankfully not using his teeth this time- and high-fived his older brother upon reaching the bottom. With that, everybody made their way back over to the table, and the game rolled on.

After the next two family members took their turns, Lynne reflected on how they had all reacted when the boys suggested they play this game. Why did they treat it like it was some evil entity, out for your soul, banned in thirty-seven countries? From what she had seen so far, it was harmless. Some of the prompts were pretty strange, sure, but there was nothing inherently _evil _about it. Maybe they were just trying to scare her, or maybe it was a family in-joke or something. Harmless.

That all changed when she had her first turn.

She gripped the crudely-made clay die in her hand, and to her amazement, she rolled a six. That would put her ahead of everyone else for the time being. She smirked and took a card from the top of the pile. Lynne looked positively concerned, but read it out nonetheless.

"You have entered the swivel chair grand prix. Please complete a time-trial run of the nearest downhill slope to confirm your starting position…?"

"So?" Gumball asked her. "Are you gonna do it?"

Lynne nodded slowly. "Uh… Sure?"

Suddenly, a group of grey, vaguely-humanoid figures burst through the front door. They were all dressed in the same red overalls and thick black shoes. One of them wheeled a swivel chair into the living room. Lynne stared at the trio open-mouthed. Did the _game _do this? No, that's impossible, she told herself. It must be a coincidence…

"Miss Porcelain? You've got to be on the track in five minutes." The one handling the chair barked, and gestured for her to sit down.

She glanced back at the family at the table- all of whom were looking at her expectantly - and then at the pit crew again. She _had _agreed to do this… She couldn't back out now. Lynne sighed, got up from the still-dusty attic-chair, and dropped herself down onto the chair the pit crew had provided. With that, they whisked her away, sending her further and further away from the house, down the street and around the corner at the end of the block.

The pit crew were all mumbling different tips and words of wisdom to her, and Lynne was so bewildered by the whole thing that she just rolled with it. Hey, at least she was getting a good look at the surrounding neighbourhood in the daylight for the first time. What was left of the daylight, anyway- the sun was threatening to set. The housecat was pushed past lots of multicoloured houses, now visible in their full glory through the light of the sun. Upon passing the house next door, she spotted the puppet-figures again. They were in the front yard this time and halted their lawn-mowing and sunbathing sessions to gawk at the unfolding scene. Lynne gave them the same awkward wave as before, and again, they didn't wave back. Lynne swore that she her them tut and mumble something about 'Watterson extended family', but she flew by so fast she wasn't entirely sure.

She was taken by the scenery- pleasant suburbia to her left and a rolling valley down into the city to her right. Birds, the smiling sun who had bags under their eyes now, and children of all shapes, sizes and dimensions playing in the front yards of the houses. Not that she had much time to double-check, but she thought she saw a banana, a fluffy rainbow-thing and someone with a tape deck for a head playing with a frisbee. They didn't look her way either. Maybe Dodj-or-Daar-related hijinks in the street were nothing new to them.

Wait… In the street? Lynne's focus was suddenly brought back to what she had signed up for, and she realised that these nondescript figures had been pushing her down the _road, _not the sidewalk, this entire time. They were pushing her so fast that they were keeping up with the cars around them. Lynne looked behind her, half-expecting to see a line of vehicles angrily honking their horns, but no. She wasn't holding anyone up, and the only thing of note was the cloud-woman in the car behind her giving her a bemused look.

Lynne clenched her sharp teeth in fear and wrapped her legs around the base of the chair.

"Is it _really _necessary to be going so fast? Why are we in the middle of the road?" She yelled as a car screamed past them, the wind making the chair spin around frantically before the team was able to regain control.

"Realistic conditions must be attained at every opportunity! Simulating your journey is key to helping you succeed! We're all counting on you, Lynne!" the three members of the crew shouted in unison.

Lynne soon learned that nothing she did or said would make them slow down or at least move onto the sidewalk, and so she admitted defeat. Exhaling, she closed her eyes and waited patiently for the pit crew to take her to the nearest downhill slope, wherever that was.

Before she knew it, the chair had jerked to a stop, and while she still had her eyes closed, she felt three sets of hands check over the chair and do something with the base. Oh cheesecakes, were they seriously changing the wheels? She prised her large eyes open, and her suspicions were confirmed. She was going to say something in protest, but one of the crew cut her off.

"Wheel wear and tear detected! Fresh wheels were necessary to maintain maximum speed, grip and handling during the descent!"

Sooner or later, Lynne had to force herself to come face-to-face with the inevitable, and she looked down at the road ahead of her. She gulped. A slope? This was a straight _drop! _The gradient was so steep that she couldn't even see the rest of the road past the junction they had stopped at. It might as well have been a cliff face. Grey hands grabbed the back of her chair and slowly pushed her towards the edge, stopping right before she would have fallen.

"Starting position assumed!" One of the red figures announced.

Another pulled out a stopwatch, and the third whispered some final words of encouragement. "Do us proud, Lynne. We've all got your back."

Lynne was hardly listening. She was far too distracted by the fact that she was now so close to the edge of the so-called 'slope' that she could see over the side of it. She did _not _like what she saw. It was a near ninety-degree drop, so large that there were actual _clouds _blocking her view of the bottom of the hill. And people _drove _on this road? Lynne felt ill. She might actually _die _doing this. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a countdown coming from one of the figures.

"Three!"

She adjusted her grip on the seat, claws ripping holes in the sponge padding.

"Two!"

She reconsidered her life choices.

"One!"

She closed her eyes again.

A klaxon sounded from nowhere, and she was launched into oblivion.

Miraculously, Lynne was still sitting on the chair. However, as she felt the world fall from underneath her, she was having to fight every instinct she had that told her to jump off and save herself. Lynne was too petrified to move anyway. She dropped like a rock. The wind was back, slapping her in the face with enough force to leave marks. She tried to scream but no sound came out. In fact, she couldn't even open her mouth. When the cat had been falling for what felt like hours, she finally willed herself to open her eyes.

Lynne immediately regretted this decision.

Soft evening light filled her vision, blinding her as it mixed with the tears in her eyes. Tears? Had she been crying? No time to think. She held onto the little black office chair with all her might. However, this was not enough to prevent her from harm. She gulped as she felt one of the wheels clip a pebble in the middle of the road and suddenly that wheel was gone. Snapped off in an instant. This sent her careening off-course and destroyed her balance. Lynne was spinning uncontrollably. Faster and faster and faster in a blur of colours- a Lynne-sized tornado. She shouldn't have asked for seconds. The meat loaf had crawled back up her throat and now the housecat was getting involuntary thirds.

There went another wheel. Her mind was swimming. She was going to die. She'd survived impact from the heavens, and now she was going to die from playing a board game. And her dinner… She was going to throw up. Great, now she'd have to spend the rest of the game reeking of vomit and-

_WHAM_

All four remaining wheels caught on something- she couldn't tell what- and she was thrown out of her seat. At least she had stopped spinning. Lynne saw everything go by in slow motion. The gradually decreasing gradient of the hill, the cars driving vertically in the other lane, and- oh, come on- was that her pit crew waiting at the bottom? She wished she would land on them. It might help her chances of survival.

Unfortunately, luck was not on her side. She ended up touching down a good fifty metres short of her crew, splatting face-down into the hard concrete. Her form melted and flattened slightly from the impact. Lynne tested to see if she could move her limbs, and yes, her arms and legs wiggled on command. Satisfied, she assumed a push-up position and prised herself from the floor. A quick shake of her head and the weirdness of its shape was gone, as was her wildly unkempt fur. Lynne hobbled over to the side of the road and sat on the sidewalk with her knees drawn up to her chest. She looked down at herself, and saw the fall had not left any scratches or scrapes on her of any kind.

Once the possibility of dying was safely ruled out, the adrenaline rush caught up with her. Lynne hollered in delight and thrust her fists up into the air. "Woo!"

The completely wrecked chair inched past her, and she got up and kicked it into someone's garden. "Take _that!"_

The clearing of a throat brought her mood back down. It was her pit crew. The grey humanoid holding the stopwatch threw it onto the floor and it shattered into a million pieces. The one with the clipboard snapped it in two over their knee, and the third addressed the cat.

"D-N-F. Did not finish!" They slapped a 'Disqualified' bumper sticker onto her forehead and sent her on her way.

A few minutes later, Lynne was back at the Watterson kitchen table, trying to get the sticker off without tearing her fur off with it. It was Nicole's turn now, but the Lynne was too busy concentrating on her self-cleansing quest to hear what her dare was, or whether she dodged it or not. All she knew was that when she eventually ripped it off, scrunched it into a ball and tossed it three-pointer style into the trash can in the kitchen, Nicole had a black eye.

Lynne winced. "Ouch… What'd you have to do?"

"Oh, I had to wrestle the current WWE world champion," Nicole said. "She put up a good fight, but joke's on her!"

The blue feline produced a huge golden wrestling belt and held it up. As she grinned, Lynne could see that she was missing a few teeth, too. Nevertheless, Nicole stashed it away and moved her paperclip one, two, three, four spaces forward. The ball was in Gumball's court again. The card he picked had some sort of star drawn in crayon on the back of it, and when Darwin saw it, he grinned and high-fived his older brother. He instinctively chose Gumball's show-hand, and now his fin was covered in dirt.

As Darwin stared at his fin in disgust, Gumball read out his card. "Lucky break! Choose someone else to do the next dare instead of you."

Everyone attempted to avoid eye contact with him. Richard was straightening his tie, Anais had her homework out on the table, Darwin was clad in a fedora and sunglasses and hid behind a newspaper, and Nicole was busy trying to pop her shoulder back into place. Lynne was the last to pretend to be busy, and so she found herself staring down the younger feline as though she was in a Western. Her face fell and she shook her head.

Gumball's mouth crept into a sly grin. "Time to take another card, Mars Attacks."

Lynne did as she was told. As she thought about an excuse, a declaration of 'no dodging' made things all too clear. As per the rules, she _had _to do this dare. She deliberately took her time in getting to the 'Daar' pile, taking a long, drawn-out sip of her coffee and letting her paw-beans brush against the back of the topmost card. A thought struck her, and she relaxed a little. After the last ordeal she had to go through, what could possibly be worse?

There was only one way to find out.

Like ripping a plaster off of a half-healed wound, Lynne tore the card from the pile and held it up to her face. She didn't want anyone else revelling in her suffering before she had found out what she was facing herself. As the chicken-scratch sank into her retinas, so too did her heart into her stomach. Lynne read it out without much emotion, but dread and fear shone through. She made sure to stare deep into the cat-child's soul in an attempt to make him feel a scrap of guilt for what he had just inflicted upon her.

"The person sitting opposite you… Chooses your middle name."

Gumball burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh, man! I remember that one!"

Everyone else at the table was giving her deeply sympathetic looks. She looked at Darwin across the table and recalled his long string of middle names.

She placed the card face-down and asked his older brother, "Just out of curiosity, what's your middle name, Gumball?"

"Tristopher," he mumbled.

"Right…"

Gumball leaned over the table with a supportive arm under his chin. "What's yours? Not that it matters, 'cause it won't be for much longer."

"I don't have one," Lynne said. "Do your worst. Anything is better than nothing."

The darkening room hung onto Lynne's last word, the rest of the family witnesses to her impending execution. They waited for her sentence to be read out with morbid curiosity. Nicole put a hand on Lynne's leg.

"Hmm… So your 'Earth name' is Lynne, right?" Gumball teased.

"Yeah."

"What's your last name?"

In the heat of the moment, she found that she had forgotten it.

Nicole covered for her. "It's Porcelain, Gumball."

"Lynne… Porcelain. What am I gonna do with that?" Gumball pondered.

_"Awesome!"_

Darwin's cheery voice broke the tension, and the room's lighting went back to normal.

Lynne tilted her head. "Excuse me?"

Darwin rambled on. "Awesome. Because I saw you fly, and flying's awesome. Sometimes Penny takes us for rides-"

"Who's Penny?"

"My girlfriend," Gumball butted in.

"Uh-huh. We go so high and it's amazing! Carrie can fly too! All the awesome people can fly. So that's your new name. Awesome!" Darwin clapped his hands together.

"Thanks, Darwin. From here on out, my new middle name is _Awesome." _

The blue cat rolled his eyes. "Fine! But to me, your middle name is always gonna be Buttcrack."

"Gumball…" Nicole warned.

"So, Darwin… Who's Carrie?" Lynne asked the fish.

His puffy cheeks flushed crimson.

"Aw, cute…" Lynne murmured softly.

"Darwin, it's your turn," Anais told him, and the hearts in his eyes evaporated.

A couple of hours later, Lynne was tucked up in bed. She was so tired out by the evening's shenanigans that she had gone upstairs at the same time as the children. Tired though she was, she couldn't sleep. She pulled out her temporary ID card to get another look at it. The only indicator of her identity, and even this didn't tell her anything about who she really was. Hopefully she'd be able to get a permanent ID card at the mall tomorrow. The cat's half-lidded eyes suddenly widened in shock.

Her name!

Written in capital letters, as clear as day.

_LYNNE AWESOME PORCELAIN_

She groaned, threw the card across the room, and rolled over.

* * *

**A/N: Now you know where her middle name came from! How was the chapter? Leave a review and let me know. Faves and follows are always appreciated. Until next time... - Lynne**


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